Using the default options, it's running pretty well on my 970 and ageing CPU/Memory set up.So far I'm getting a Metro meets Crysis meets (Modern) Far Cry vibe from the feel and presentation. Yet to have any extended gun fights, nor really seen the open world aspect of it, so arguably the quality of the game's meat has yet to be tested.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that I've seen some real shit-show games in my time, and while I'm not getting the sense it'll be anywhere close to a potential modern classic like Doom is, this doesn't "feel" like a garbage heap yet...

Which isn't an opinion worth a damn considering I'm half-hour in and bearly out of the tutorial.

All of these games seem to have influenced Homefront 2 in one form or another and for the most part they come together pretty well. One thing the game has going for it is there is ALWAYS something going on in the game world around you with KPA soldiers taking on the NPC's in small bubble battles as you make your way around the various different zones. At times you will even come across a single NPC legging it around the map with a rocket launcher and just blowing shit up right in front of you or a group travelling together and setting up small pockets of resistance which you can choose to join in with or ignore. You can also request NPC's to come with you the problem being they then stick so bloody close to you ie right next to you so its nigh on impossible to fight anyone or interact with anything with them so a lone wolf mentality is the way to go I find. And that is precisely where the game shines. Just you. Your weapon. Your wits. Your gadgets. Out there in the dead of night or the glaring light of day fucking shit up for the KPA in any way you can think up. The gunplay is satisfying and the enemy AI while not the best is sufficient enough to make any engagement a fairly memorable one. Missions are fairly varied too.

The Bad

The game seems to have issues with using multiple cores for many meaning poor performance on higher spec machines because the game isn't setting the affinity levels correctly and ends up utilising just a single core instead of three or four. Alt tabbing out of the game and setting the level manually to 0 then back to all cores and entering back into the game can be a temporary fix which gains 25-30fps.

For a 2016 game Homefront 2 can be an extremely mixed bag affair while sometimes you will feel impressed at the attention to detail as a huge mass of buildings can all be entered or climbed just like in The Division with secret stashes hidden away inside there are times the game looks very much like Frontlines: Fuel of War - a game from 2008. I shit you not. The pure irony of this being that that game was made by original Homefront developer Kaos Studios. If it wasn't for its use of fancy shaders and lighting the game would look way past its sell by date and it's a damn shame too because when the game looks good it looks quite nice and is pretty atmospheric with it too...

I should also mention that the game for some reason only supports FOV from 50 to 65. 65! Playing DOOM at 90 or even 100 then going back to this feels like a smack in the face.

The Broken

Oh man the bugs. Too many to mention.

The long and short of it is Homefront 2 was clearly rushed out for release which is a depressing state of affairs as there is underneath a pretty solid and entertaining game that has captured certain moments from older games I loved as mentioned in full above. Deep Silver's pathetically low level of marketing for the game backs up this theory as most gamers out there still aren't aware that the game is even fucking released.

Deep Silver and Dambuster Studio just need to get on it and get the game patched, patched and patched some more because releasing the game in the state it is has done it no favours whatsoever obviously especially when it was bound to be so overwhelmingly overlooked in favour of DOOM regardless of how it shipped. There is a good game that can be salvaged here though IMO and although it won't win any awards for originality I've still found myself enjoying it in spite of the many drawbacks it constantly seems to enjoy throwing at you.

Why Deep Silver why? Why did you rush this out to release? It genuinely deserved better handling.

14 hours played and just entered the third larger zone and ever so surprisingly the game just keeps on improving. Yeah I know, that's not what you've read in countless reviews and not what your friend who bought it told you but if ever there was a recent gaming experience in recent years you had to just try out for yourself in spite of all that has been said against doing precisely that I'd say this is pretty much it.

For me so far it is practically the Boiling Point of 2016 - utterly filled with bugs and NPC's that are mindless glitching distractions but at the same time Homefront 2 can be oh so immersive and most definitely is always, always great fun to play. At times the feeling that it was heavily inspired by Half-Life 2 is hard to shake too, everything from the feel of the weapons to the music to the art design/direction seems to remind me of an updated HL2 and with it being open world it can at times almost feel like you are playing the ever elusive Half-Life 3. Not quite but it's probably the closest we will ever get to actually doing so. The huge donuts from the first Homefront make a welcome return too!

If anything DOOM giving me constant CTD's has actually gone and done me a favour because I'm actually enjoying this even more now I've managed to get it running respectably. I've unlocked a lot of the weapons now which at first doesn't seem like a great deal until you are reminded that every single weapon has three distinct weapon modes you can toggle between on the fly. A single weapon can be your shotgun, your flame thrower and your grenade launcher all in one for instance once you start unlocking the additional attachments.

The similarities to The Division are coming on thick and strong too as the deeper I get the more it reminds me of Ubisoft's latest as I die and lose valuable loot I sorely wanted to cling on to, making it safely back to HQ all while avoiding KPA patrols, seeker drones and the huge motherfucking mother seeker ship you get to sell your valuables and reap the rewards with weapon upgrades and better kit. There's everything from remote RC cars which you can explode or use as distractions to a hoody that gives you 60% more chance of not being spotted out in the open but only if you make like a tree and stand still or walk very slowly. Using your camera to spot enemies in your vicinity can be used to highlight and tag all manner of KPA from drones to vehicles so they show up as either stationary or red moving points on your screen.

When entering heavily locked down zones filled with ever increasing danger you tend to dart from building to building a lot more and then take refuge inside in which you can find spoils left over by the revolution hidden away. Constantly being spotted from a distance can make for some very tense encounters which will have you legging it for cover and hiding away in any tiny spot you can find which is difficult for the KPA to locate you in and thankfully as most buildings are in some way accesible you can end up on the top of a multi story car park, inside a run down hospital or even in a filthy room in a morgue. Very often you get to take on flashpoint missions in which random protect or infiltrate orders are given and big rewards offered for pulling them off successfully. The more you help liberate the people the more they rise up against the KPA too as they riot on streets and burn KPA propoganda or throw bricks at their bases etc. It's really well handled now I come to think of it.

Speaking of people you can request NPC's stick with you and can run around with 3-4 friendlies at any given time who will engage in firefights with you and you can disband them once you are done with them. The AI perhaps isn't the best and they do tend to sometimes get in the way or cross your line of fire at just the wrong moment but they do a good enough job and can kill KPA and blow up all manner of shit before they eat a bullet.

All in all then it's a pretty frustrating time then all round as if you look over on the Steam forums there are actually others like myself who are enjoying the game and are fans of it drowned out in the middle of all the haters and complaints and cries for patches. I get that it does need them and that it was far far from the best release but that's not preventing me from playing it and enjoying it progressively more and more as I reach each new section.

Some gameplay from tonight's session...bugs and all...

I'm interested to see what Rob makes of it because rather unexpectedly I am having a blast.

Prey, your video makes me want to buy this. I was totally looking forward to this game but was taken aback by the poor launch. Pretty cheap on CDKeys right now. Not sure if I should bite the bullet yet or wait to see if they patch it up.

I am in a similar place Jason, I have been influenced on more than one occasion by Dave's enthusiastic frothings on new titles, sometimes I share that enthusiasm, other times less so.

The mention of boiling point sends armies of ice-booted ants of terror marching up my spine. I bought that particular title after praise on here and while I know some crowbarred some pleasure from it to me it was a mess of broken promises and unfulfilled potential, and I bounced clean off it.

That said... Open world FPS, a whiff of The Division, dynamic play with random events happening around you, stealthy tactical play, that is all manna from heaven for one Snowy of this parish.

£20 on CD Keys - that is a possible acquisition. Deep Silver do have a bit of a habit of releasing games before they are ready for it, I remember the state that the original Dead Island shipped in for example. A bit of tweaking though and they were real diamonds in the rough.

I'd really put it off until the first proper patch is released lads. As fun as it is to play right now there's aspects of it that are just too flaky in their current form. Glad you are interested in it all the same and that the largely poor reviews have not put you off completely.

I do consider it a diamond in the rough, it's just not quite as polished as to sparkle just yet.

Sorry, I loved Boiling Point back in the day. I think that game brought me to these forums many years ago. I want to say there was someone named Shadow Moses (??) on here that discussed that game and other open world games quite often.

As far as your suggestion, Prey. I think that's exactly what I'll do. Wait and see. I does totally look like something I would enjoy. It could be this years' Far Cry for me. I skipped the totally dumb looking Primal. Personal opinion. I would buy Homefront in it's current state before I'd pick that up.